Specialist telehandler suits specialist duties at SA waste facility

HANDLING bulky and awkward waste product loads requires machinery with good reach capabilities, versatility, power and manoeuvrability.

Clare Valley Waste, one of South Australia’s biggest regional waste management firms, has found the JCB 541-70 telehandler is an ideal machine for shifting, loading and unloading recyclables, cardboard and paper waste bales and general rubbish material at its Clare-based depot.

The telehandler was purchased to complement a new walking floor trailer used at the depot, mainly for recyclables.

Clare Valley Waste Managing Director Gavin Mills said the JCB 541-70 was the only telehandler of its type that could be used with the trailer because of its 7-metre lift height and 4-tonne capacity.

“When recycling materials come in to the depot they are unloaded from trucks, sorted, stored and re-loaded onto the walking trailer for transport to Adelaide,” Gavin said.

“The JCB is used to push about 75 per cent of each trailer load (of 15t) up the back end of the trailer inside the depot. We then move the trailer outside and the telehandler puts the remainder of the load – about 3 cubic metres of rubbish – over the top of the trailer, which is 4-5m high.”

Clare Valley Waste has custom-designed a bucket and clamp attachment for the 541-70 to prevent spillage during loading, as it operates under strict environmental guidelines.

Gavin said the configuration of the JCB telehandler with its extendable boom, bucket and clamp and the walking floor trailer had doubled the efficiency of loading and unloading waste material at the company’s depot.

The Clare Valley Waste business had only commenced in 2008 as a sideline to Mills Freight Line Pty Ltd’s country transport operation, but it had since tripled in size and was continuing to expand rapidly.

“In a radius of about 140 kilometres from Clare in the Mid North of SA, we now manage about 800 industrial waste bins, pick up council-issued recycle bins, receive waste from council rubbish collections and collect, bale and transport premium corrugated cardboard and paper loads.’’

Each fortnight 25-30t of recyclable material is put through the Clare Valley Waste depot and the company handles about 1200t of cardboard and paper per annum.

Gavin said cardboard and paper recycling was a growing side of the business and the JCB machine had replaced a loader to feed this material onto a conveyor for baling.

He said the 541-70 was used by the company to deliver landscaping supplies, such as loads of pine bark, mulch and gravel, to households and businesses in the Clare region because it had a road speed of 40km/hour and could contain material well in its bucket.

It also is used for general loading, handling paper, carting timber, off-loading trucks and loading hay bales with hay fork attachments.

“We run a multi-faceted business now and we have found the JCB telehandler is a highly versatile machine that is well suited to our needs,” Gavin said. “It is very adaptable and attachments are easy to switch. It is also really easy to drive, with a neat layout of instruments, although we do train our operators to get used to the left hand drive and off-set cabin.”

Gavin said the 541-70 was highly fuel efficient and he was impressed by the power of the machine’s Dieselmax engine that delivered a maximum 97 kilowatts, or 130 horsepower, and could undertake heavy lifting at low revs.

He said the telehandler was particularly quiet when under load and its six-speed powershift transmission provided excellent control when lifting 3 cubic metres of rubbish to a height of 4-5m.

“Autoselect steering on JCB telehandlers allows changes between four-wheel, two-wheel and crab steer at the flick of a switch without having to manually re-align wheels, which makes it very manoeuvrable.’’

Gavin said the 541-70 was the first JCB machine to be bought by Clare Valley Waste, but the company would expand its fleet of JCB telehandlers if its operations continued to grow.

“The size and scope of the telehandler really fits our requirements and it is a very safe machine.’’

“We have also received excellent back-up service from our JCB dealer, AW Vater & Co at Saddleworth, which delivered us a new glass sunroof overnight when we had a slight breakage incident.

“The machine was out of action for less than 24 hours while the problem was fixed – it was a very prompt response, resulting in minimal downtime.”

Picture caption: The JCB is used to push about 75 per cent of each 15-tonne trailer load up the back end of the trailer.